


Stark History: The True Story

by PStarkRogers



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-25
Updated: 2013-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-16 04:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/857596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PStarkRogers/pseuds/PStarkRogers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are many stories about love, and most of them are sappy and full of crap. This one, however...This one is not like those ones. This love story is full of pain and tears, love found and love lost. It's the true story of a couple that never could get it right, and the story of a man, from before even his conception all the way to the man he is today. </p><p>This is the story of Anthony Edward Stark, and how he came to be the man he is today.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

In the beginning, they had been a happy couple. They had been a young woman and an older, protective man. He was a good man who had made a name for himself as an inventor and American Army Engineer. She was a young woman from a wealthy family who loved helping people. They met by chance on a rainy evening in August. He was hosting a charity benefit for her father’s organization. It was going well and the spirits in the room were high. There was dancing and laughing and light drinking.

And in the midst of all the dancing and laughing and light drinking, they started talking.

Started flirting.

Started loving.

It was the beginning.


	2. Accusations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The accusations started the month after they married.

The accusations started the month after they married.

The young woman had started getting sick, being awakened suddenly during the night to have to go and vomit until her stomach was so empty it was simply unable to get rid of anything more. This sickness continued for a fortnight and then the young couple finally sought out a doctor.

It turned out that the young woman was pregnant, just barely so. At first, the young couple rejoiced in their shared miracle.

And then the accusations started flying.

After a few days (and a few bottles of strong liquor), he started to think. And that thinking led to their first fight.

“There’s no way that child is mine! It’s too soon for it to be mine. So what, are you actually daddy’s little slut, the precious daughter who opens her legs to family ‘friends’?”

“How dare you! You dare to call me a slut, considering how many women you’ve taken? And that’s not even bringing your war buddies into consideration is it, Howard?“

“You know nothing-“

“Oh, I know nothing now?”

“-nothing about what happened during the war! Don’t you dare slander their memories Maria! You weren’t there, you didn’t serve. You….You couldn’t understand.” He looked away from the beautiful woman he had married and shook his head. “You’d never understand.”

“Howard…Howard explain it to me! I want to understand! I want to be part of your life…” She stood up and came over to him, gently reaching up and brushing his cheek with her fingertips. She let them rest there on his cheekbone. “Let me in Howard…Let us in.” She gently took Howard’s hand with her free one and laid it on her flat and slender stomach.

Howard just stared at their joined hands for a moment, then looked up at her. “You’re sure it’s mine?”

“I’m positive. I have slept with no other man, and I would not lie to you. Not about this, not about anything. He’s yours.” She smiled at him, and a tear trickled down her cheek.

He gently reached up and brushed her tear away with his free hand. “Sssshhh. Don’t cry. I’m so sorry Maria….I’m sorry.” He pulled her close and held her, slowly swaying back and forth with her. “I didn’t mean any of it…”

“Of course you didn’t…..Neither of us did.”

They stayed like that for minutes, hours even, simply rocking back and forth. After a while he pulled back just enough, and smiled at her, letting it warm his whole face. She smiled back at him and they went to bed together, the wounds mended.

But those accusations stayed with them, both of them, crawling into their hearts and slowly digging a deep hole, just waiting to cause more heartache.


	3. Restless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes there comes a time where you just have to move.

“You’re leaving? How long will you be gone?”

“Awhile. I’m not sure. However long it takes.”

“Howard, this is crazy! You could be gone for months, and you don’t even know if you’ll find anything!” She went quiet, and that silence was saturated with her sadness. “And you’ll miss your son’s birth.”

He waited a moment before saying anything. Then finally, “I’m aware. And I’m sorry. But I have to go. This is the first lead we’ve gotten in a long time, and if there’s a chance I can find him....I’m sorry Maria, I have to go.”

Howard closed and locked his suitcase and then picked it up, turning around to look at his young wife. He came over and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. “I’m sorry.”

She looked at him and there were tears in her eyes. “You’re really leaving? You’re going to leave me-us?” She put a hand on her stomach and stared at him, her tears falling freely down her cheeks. “There’s nothing I can say to make you stay, is there?”

He shook his head softly. “No my love, there’s not. This is something I have to do, and there’s no way that you could stop me.” He turned then, grabbing his jacket and walking out the door.

Maria stared at the closed door, hoping against all reason that he would come back in that door and say how wrong he was. But as the minutes trickled past, she knew he wasn’t coming back. She walked back to the sunroom that Howard had built for her as a gift and sat down heavily. She wrapped her arms around her blossoming stomach and laid her head on the pillow, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks once more.

“He doesn’t love us.” It was a whisper, meant to be heard only by her unborn son. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry he doesn’t love us.” She bowed her head and cried.

“He’s been so restless and so angry and tense....I’m so sorry sweety, I’m so so sorry. I can’t...” She heaved in a great sob. “I can’t help him.”

Maria Stark sat there, her arms wrapped around her belly and cried, while her husband drove into the night, his restlessness getting the better of him.


End file.
